Possibly my favourite aspect of Bowser’s Fury is that it finally goes all the way with the felines Super Mario 3D World introduced. Bowser himself has been overcome with a dripping evil goo, and it’s up to Mario to save the day.

Instead of linear levels and bursts of distinctly video game-y platforming with impossible architecture, Bowser’s Fury takes place on Lake Lapcat where islands rise out of the water. The developer took everything that Super Mario 3D World set up and made something entirely new, with the lessons learned from Super Mario Odyssey in mind. Fun, but not for me, thanks.īowser’s Fury feels like Nintendo going back to the drawing board. Mario games are about exploration and precision platforming - something 3D World had - but it never capitalised on those strengths, instead opting for a more casual, beginner-friendly experience. It was built around multiplayer, and while a four-player frenzy sounds like a great way to play a game like this, that came with caveats: levels had to be wide enough to support four players, and Mario had to move relatively slowly so everyone on screen can keep track of where they are. There were a few small issues in its original iteration, but these were truly minor. The public consensus seemed to be that if the game couldn’t make people buy a Wii U, it probably wasn’t worthwhile in the first place. Super Mario 3D World is a Wii U port that got a bad rep thanks to launching on a doomed console. Oh, and Bowser’s Fury might just be better than most of the content in the main game, so that’s also nice.

It is that, of course, but the small changes Nintendo has made to the original make this remaster feel transformative. Super Mario 3D World + Bowser’s Fury isn’t just a sharper, faster version of Super Mario 3D World.

Super mario 3d world wii rom